In current mobile communications 100, e.g. according to the 3GPP standard, when a mobile device 120 or User Equipment (UE) is in IDLE mode it performs neighboring inter-RAT cell measurement 121, 122, 123 and re-selects the best available cell found during the scanning as shown in FIG. 1. Depending on the network, UE 120 obtains an available inter-RAT (IRAT) neighbor cell list, e.g. including radio cells 111, 112, 113, and only the cells from this neighbor cell list are regularly monitored by the UE 120 to find the best cell for re-selection. The network usually broadcasts this information on broadcast channels, for example, in a neighbor cell list indicating radio cells configured for specific Radio Access Technologies (RAT). It has shown from field trials that in most situations such an inter-RAT neighbor cell list is not correctly configured. As the UE 120 is completely dependent on the broadcasted neighbor cell list, even when it is aware of the cells of the preferred RAT (for example cell 111 configured for LTE, Long Term Evolution) in its vicinity where it camped previously, it may be stuck in that same low priority RAT (for example a 2G-GSM cell) due to a wrongly configured IRAT neighbor cell list. This in turn drastically reduces the data throughput performance of a multi-mode LTE capable UE even though the user is subscribed for LTE data services and a suitable LTE cell is available in its vicinity.
Hence, there is a need to improve the cell search in particular in communication networks with radio cells configured for different radio access technologies.